Selling gold

Selling gold

An employee shows off silver and gold bullion bars engraved with dragons at a gold shop in Beijing on September 15, 2011.

More symbolic proof that China has arrived in the ranks of the ridiculously rich: the capital will be getting China's first vending machines that dispense gold bars. Patrons can pay by cash or credit card.

Chinese media reported this week that gold-bar vending machines will be rolled out in private clubs and other exclusive locations in Beijing for the super-rich in coming months. Unsurprisingly, Las Vegas claims to have some of the world's first vending machines dispensing bars of gold, while the machines are also in operation at the Frankfurt airport in Germany and as well as in Dubai and Spain, along with smaller cities in Florida.